VINEYARD
The vineyard occupies about 4 ha in the valley of Arpa River. The vineyard is planted on several slopes with different characteristics of the terroir. The soil composition is diverse: clay and volcanic rocks, sand, pebble inclusions. In winter, frosts below -20 °C are possible, so the vineyard is buried. The main variety in the vineyard is Areni Noir (2,5 ha), 0,5 ha is occupied by the red autochthon grape variety Kakhet. In 2016, two sections of Voskehat with a total area of about 1 ha were planted. The density of planting on all the sites is about 3000 vines/ha. The first vines in the vineyard were planted in 2009 (before that the project had bought grapes from farmers in Vayots Dzor region). The practice of limiting the yield — no more than 25-30 centners per hectare — is usual. Harvest is done manually in stages from different sites, as it ripens during October-November.
WINERY
The winery is located next to the vineyard and equipped with the necessary equipment for the personally designed wines: a small press, crushers, stainless steel tanks. Some of the red wines are aged in a new Armenian oak, so the winery regularly buys a few barrels. The winery produces no more than 10 thousand bottles of wine per year. All of them after bottling pass an additional bottle aging — not less than 6 months in the temperature controlled cellar.
TEAM
The project is completely supervised by its founder and owner Armen Khalatyan. His wife Ashken, a practicing doctor by the profession, helps him. In addition to working in the winery and vineyard, Armen manages agrarian projects in the Farmers Support Fund of Armenia. The consultant of the project is the oenologist of Semina Consulting company Arman Manukyan.
